Batman has been secretly carrying one of DC’s most powerful weapons in his pocket, and he’s saving it for a special occasion.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the story “Dragonlance” from the Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook, by Christopher Priest, Eduardo Risso, and Willie Schubert, on sale now.
While the Justice League and the other heroes of the DC Universe have been pushed to the edge contending with the Batman Who Laughs and his armies, the heroes have found a handful of tools that could help turn the tide — and it turns out one of the most potentially powerful has been in Batman’s pocket this whole time.
Batman is secretly holding onto the last of the White Lantern energies, which have been compressed into a bullet that Batman seems to be keeping for a very specific target.
WHAT IS THE WHITE LANTERN BULLET?
While the DC Universe has been largely corrupted and controlled by the corrupted Batmen of the Dark Multiverse, some of the heroes have gotten their hands on some powerful weapons. While Wonder Woman has deconstructed her Invisible Jet to produce the Invisible Chainsaw, Batman has instead found one of the few Black Lantern Rings that still exists. Wearing it has given him a number of attributes, notably including the ability to raise up an army of the undead to fight alongside him against the armies of the Batman Who Laughs. But it turns out he has another powerful Lantern-adjacent weapon hidden away in his pocket.
While traveling with the resurrected Jonah Hex, Batman reveals that he has the last of the White Lantern energies, compressed into a single bullet. This would normally be a massive betrayal of Batman’s ethics and morals, but as with his famous confrontation with Darkseid in Final Crisis, if the situation is dire enough than Batman will put all that aside and prepare a gun. This could potentially be a game-changing weapon, as the White Lantern bullet could potentially store enough energies to bring down someone like the Batman Who Laughs. It could even be powerful enough to do some damage to Perpetua if given the chance. Batman mentions that it could end up saving the multiverse, and he’s not wrong to point out just how powerful the bullet is.
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But Jonah Hex has a theory of his own about the bullet. He’s able to see that the Black Lantern Ring on Batman’s hand has been spreading through him. Batman confirms that the energies of the ring have been whispering in his ear, telling him that all life is doomed. Hex theorizes that Batman is holding onto the bullet as a last resort if the Black Lantern Ring becomes too potent within him – which Batman doesn’t deny. In fact, he mentions that it would be fitting that he die of a gunshot in an alley, as a gunshot in an alley had helped birth Batman in the first place.
By the end of the story, Batman and Jonah resume their journey to the Crypt of Heroes, setting them up to reunite with the other heroes and for Jonah to bring down a group of Dark Batmen once they arrive in New Apokolips. This could even be seen as more evidence that Batman is actually dead and that the Black Lantern Ring is the only thing keeping him going. If so, then it makes perfect sense why Batman would be carrying something like the White Lantern bullet – although hopefully, he’ll be able to use it for some other dark target.
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